Battle of Marathon 490BC

The battle of Marathon presented us with an epic historical challenge last night,with Brian and Graham taking on the mantle of Greek commanders,and Paul and I taking command of the Persians.

As usual,the top photo is the scenario,and bottom is the table before any movement.
Even though this battle is very well documented,there is still a query as to where the Persian cavalry were and where the camp was situated,so I took a decision,for wargaming purposes,and came up with this set-up,and scenario-it worked well!

The battle begins!-both sides advancing towards each other-I had "weighted" the fighting points so that the Greek flanks were confident that they could beat the opposition on the Persian flanks,whilst the Persian centre was equally as confident that it could beat the Greek centre!!!-but of course this is a wargame,and those ugly creatures,called DICE,were called into play,and not everything went according to plan!!!!!!

This is the Greek left flank phalanx-so heavily "weighted" against my puny axemen,that a "walk-over" was expected-not so said the dice,and for once I was throwing high  and won the first encounter-hurrah!!

On the other flank,Paul is also giving Brian's troops a hard time,but this was not to last,as Paul,who is noted for extremely lucky dice throws,started to throw really low,much to the delight of the Greeks!

The "centres" have now clashed,and the Persians were taking a bit of a beating-so much so,that Paul decided to put his commander into the melee,to bolster their fighting ability,and morale-oh dear!!-guess what happened?-yes he was killed by Brian,who then gave us a disgraceful display of "Gloatiness",by doing a sort of "Dad Dance" combined with a "Sailor's Hornpipe"-realising what he had done,shame overtook him!!!!

It's no good trying to hide your shame,able seaman Irving!!!-you did it and you'll have to live with it!!

The whole Persian line is being pushed back in this shot,and Brian is starting to turn his "phalanx" onto the flank of Paul's troops in the centre-is all lost,and will history remain intact

Yes,and yes!-it's back to the Jodie and Rodney(marsh!!) for the Persians,as the Greeks were declared the winners!
This was an interesting and exciting game,played in good spirit(apart from one instance of regret and shame,which we will say no more about!!)-well done lads.
Roll on next Sunday,when we will be playing a World War 2 game,which the "boys" will be organising between themselves-I will provide the terrain,they will provide the scenario,troops,vehicles etc.-can't wait!